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Therapist physical attractiveness: an unexplored influence on client disclosure
1Family Therapy Program, Texas Tech University, Lubbock 79409-1162, USA. sharris@ttu.edu
Journal of Marital and Family Therapy
|May 16, 1998
Summary
Client comfort with self-disclosure in therapy increases when therapists are perceived as more attractive. This study explored therapist attractiveness, client gender, and problem type on disclosure comfort.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Clinical Psychology
- Social Psychology
Background:
- Previous research shows clients view attractive therapists as more competent and trustworthy.
- The impact of therapist attractiveness on client self-disclosure remains under-explored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how therapist attractiveness influences client comfort with self-disclosure.
- To examine the interplay of therapist attractiveness, client gender, problem type, and disclosure comfort in couple therapy.
Main Methods:
- 241 participants were randomly assigned to one of eight experimental conditions.
- A hypothetical couple therapy scenario was used to assess client comfort.
- Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was employed to analyze the data.
Main Results:
- Participants reported greater comfort disclosing benign (communication) problems than embarrassing (sexual) problems.
- Clients expressed more comfort disclosing to attractive female therapists compared to less attractive ones.
Conclusions:
- Therapist attractiveness can significantly influence a client's willingness to self-disclose.
- Understanding the role of attractiveness is crucial for therapists to enhance the therapeutic alliance and client outcomes.
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